World's Greatest Ghost Writer

Radley Balko | December 27, 2006

J.Y. Smith, the man who co-wrote the Washington Post's obituary for Gerald Ford that ran in today's paper, himself died last January. Meaning he wrote the obit for a man who outlived him.

Just another in an amusing set of stories resulting from pre-written obituaries. My favorite is when someone acccidentally put Bob Hope's obit on the wire several years before Hope actually died. Hope apparently watched news of his death on television one morning while eating a bowl of cereal. All the more funny since "the news of my death is greatly exaggerated" is exactly the kind of tired old line Hope was fond of delivering.

Comments

Deus ex Machina|12.27.06 @ 5:13PM|#

Compare CNN's leaked obit with the one that actually ran.

Bob Basil|12.27.06 @ 6:49PM|#

Bob Hope showed that the delivery was more important than the writing.

Bing|12.27.06 @ 9:02PM|#

Bob Hope is still dead.
RIH*

*Rest In Hell

|12.27.06 @ 11:33PM|#

Meaning he wrote the obit for a man who outlived him.

Well, Smith and L. Ron Hubbard have a lot in common.

David Ross|12.28.06 @ 10:41AM|#

Gerald Ford had an angel, or djinn, or something on the lookout for revenge against his tormentors.

Chevy Chase couldn't stand Ford at the time, and commenced his national career by imitating Ford's clumsiness on SNL. Chase then started taking painkillers to alleviate the long-term effects of his slapstick stunts. It got so bad that at the age of 43, he checked into a clinic. The Betty Ford clinic. [Google: "chevy chase" painkillers "betty ford"]

Steve|12.28.06 @ 11:56AM|#

When Hope died, the New York Times ran an obit by Vincent Canby, the film critic, who had died more than three years before Hope did.

|12.28.06 @ 9:16PM|#

"Tired old line?!?" That's Mark Twain, Radley. Twain lines never get old. Although I might agree to overused.